Patriots finish October perfect

FOXBORO, Mass. - Injuries failed to tear apart the New England Patriots in October, but like Bill Belichick always says, "some thing were better than others."

MICHAEL PARENTE

Published
1:00 am EST, Tuesday, October 28, 2003

Despite a perfect 4-0 month that has left them with a 6-2 record heading into the second half of the season, not everything was flawless during October for the Patriots.

One problem was the pass rush, which suffered a major hit when outside linebackers Rosevelt Colvin and Mike Vrabel went down. Colvin broke his hip and was placed on injured reserve. Vrabel fractured his arm and missed three weeks.

During that time, the Patriots' pass defense struggled. On Oct. 5, Tennessee quarterback Steve McNair finished with 360 yards in a 38-30 loss at Gillette Stadium.

Overall, the Patriots rank 22nd in the league in pass defense, but with Vrabel back, things are beginning to look up. Sunday's win over the Cleveland Browns was the perfect example. Vrabel had three sacks as the Patriots held on for a 9-3 win. The Browns managed just 119 passing yards with no touchdowns and a key interception down the stretch by Ty Law.

Matt Chatham did a great job filling in when the starters went down, but having Vrabel on the field adds a different dimension.

"Mike did a great job," Belichick said. "He rushed well and he helped break up the duties a little bit, because Matt is productive on special teams for us, and Mike allows us to use him more in that role."

Belichick said that Vrabel's impact could be felt on third down, where the Patriots' pass rush has been almost non-existent lately despite what the numbers say.

"We got a little lift from that. It was good. Mike had some pressure on third down. Our numbers have been good, but we haven't had a lot of pressure on the quarterback on third down. We had a lot more of that [Sunday], which Mike informed me after the game."

Vrabel had every reason to be pleased with his performance. He became the first Patriot to finish with three sacks in a game since Henry Thomas in December of 1998. His presence in the pocket made life miserable for Cleveland's Tim Couch and Kelly Holcomb. Midway through the third, he forced a fumble on Holcomb, only to have it recovered by Jamel White.

After returning last weekend against Miami, he's just glad to be on the field again. He admitted that he felt obligated to rush himself back into the lineup because the team needed him, but in the end, he did the right thing and waited until he was ready.

Because of that, he's confident he'll progress each week without any worries of re-aggravating the injury. The arm isn't 100 percent yet, but he's healthy enough to play. The coaching staff has monitored his participation just to make sure he isn't overdoing it.

"We've been smart about it," Vrabel said. "I've been able to stay out of harm and not set it back at all. Last week, for example, I didn't get a lot of snaps, which I guess is probably good for the arm.

"This week, I thought I could progress a little more," he continued. "Once you get out there, you just forget about everything that's going on there and just remember that you are playing football and that guys on your team are playing hurt. You just try to use that as motivation to get back as soon as possible."

Vrabel said the opportunity to play one-on-one against Cleveland's banged-up offensive line, along with adjustments made during practice, helped him out on Sunday.

"We worked on it a lot," Vrabel said. "When you work on stuff and you pay attention to details, it was going to come down to a lot of one-on-one games. You've got to beat your man, or beat the back. Sometimes if you get put on a back, you've got to win. If they let you go, if they let you free, you got to win. You've got to play. That's what happened on Sunday."

Vrabel's day was impressive enough, but he almost had four sacks and two forced fumbles.

"We work on that so much," he said.

"From the first day of training camp."

, we are working on ball disruption. There are so many opportunities out there, whether the way the guys holds the ball or whether the way a guy is carrying it, we knew that they had given up some fumbles.

"I think all of the good rushers, sometimes you see those guys who don't get sacks, they don't get hits on the quarterback, they get strips and those are sacks," he added. "You've got to look for the ball. The name of this game is scoring and you score with the ball, so I think we make a conscious effort of getting the ball out."

Vrabel now has the rest of the season to look forward to, which is exciting considering that the Patriots will actually be healthy at some point next month. Ted Johnson and Ted Washington might return soon, and when they do, the defense will be close to complete. Without those guys, they've given up one touchdown in three weeks. Imagine what it will be like when everyone is back. Vrabel can't wait.

"This is why I came back, to be a part of this team and be a part of what we are doing," Vrabel said."Watching those guys, the effort they put out in the weeks that I was out, it was frustrating. You want to be a part of that and you want to be a part of guys playing hard, winning football."